Before Clichy and Evra there has been many quality left backs for France. Clichy and Evra need to know the players who played before them at left back so they aspire to their dreams.
I will start from the 1980ties, as that is when French football first became successful.
Maxime Bossis( 1982 and 1986 World Cup, and Euro 84).
Maxime Bossis (born June 26, 1955) is a former French football player. He is mostly remembered for missing the last penalty in 1982 World Cup Semifinal between Germany and France. While the score was tied at 4-4 , Bossis missed the next penalty, allowing Horst Hrubesch to score the last penalty, and with 5-4, to drive his team to the final.
Bixente Lizarru( 1998 and 2002 World Cup, Euro 96, Euro 2000 and Euro 2004).
Bixente Lizarazu (Basque: /bi'ʃente lisa'rasu/; French: /bi'gzɑ̃t lizaʀa'zy/) (born December 9, 1969 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France) is a former football (soccer) left defender for Bayern Munich and three other professional teams, as well as the French national team.
Lizarazu, a Basque, has been capped 97 times for France, scoring two goals, and helped them win the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. He has won six Bundesliga championships with Bayern Munich, as well as five German Cups, the Champions League, and the Intercontinental Cup. While with Bayern Munich, Lizarazu wore the shirt number 69. He said this was because he was born in 1969, his height was 1.69m and he weighed 69kg.[1]
Before moving to Germany, Lizarazu played for Girondins de Bordeaux, where he played in the 1996 UEFA Cup final against Bayern; and Athletic Bilbao, where he was the club's first non-Spanish player since World War I. He said he would leave Bayern in the 2004 offseason, and eventually signed with Olympique Marseille. However, six months after signing with Marseille, he returned to Bayern Munich in January 2005.
He has been threatened by the Basque terrorist group, ETA. He also has a stadium named after him in the French Basque country, the "Stade Bixente-Lizarazu" (former "Belcenia Stadium"). His fiancée is French singer and actress Elsa Lunghini. He has a son named Tximista.
Lizarazu announced his retirement from football on April 30, 2006 four days after former teammate Zinedine Zidane. He ends his career with the distinction of the most 'titled' player in French history.
Eric Abidal( World Cup 2006)
Éric Abidal (born July 11, 1979 in Lyon) is a football (soccer) player from France whose parents come from Martinique, France. He plays as a left back and central defender with Olympique Lyonnais and the French national team. He has two daughters named Meliana (*2004) and Camélia (*2006).
Can Clichy and Evra follow in their footsteps?
Gael Clichy
Signed by Arsène Wenger in the summer of 2003 from AS Cannes for £250,000, Clichy plays the position of left back for Arsenal, although he had had to be content with playing understudy to England international Ashley Cole. However, he has still made 72 appearances (including 44 in the league) for Arsenal in the two seasons he has been at the English club.
He is the youngest winner of a Premiership medal which he earned in his first season with Arsenal for his 12 appearances in 2003-04.
Patrice Evra
Patrice Evra (born May 15, 1981 in Dakar, Senegal) is a French-Senegalese international footballer, who plays for English Premiership side Manchester United. He plays in the left back position although he can also play on the left wing.
Son of a diplomat, he soon arrived in Europe through Brussels where his father was sent when he was very young. He was raised in Les Ulis, Essonne, France where he lived with his family from 1984 to 1998 before seizing his first opportunity leading him to Marsala, Italy. That's where he started football in 1986 and fell in love with the game. He evolved notably with Thierry Henry in those early years. They consider themselves as childhood friends. Patrice had a total of 23 siblings [1].
Evra revealed that he had snubbed both Arsenal and Liverpool for the chance to walk out at the Theatre of Dreams.
"Liverpool and Arsenal are great clubs but United is a completely different story. Inter were also trying to get me in the transfer window but there was only one club for me".
Who is the best, and who will make it as France left back NUMBER ONE?
And after Clichy and Evra? There is Armand Traore.
Armand Traore
Armand Traoré (born October 8, 1989 in Paris) is a French footballer who currently plays for FA Premier League side Arsenal. He plays left back and wears the number 45 shirt.
He joined the club in August 2005, having previously been at AS Monaco. Although mainly a reserve team member, making six appearances in the FA Premier Reserve League in 2005-06, he played in Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial against Ajax Amsterdam in July 2006 and was an unused member of Arsenal's 17-man squad for their Champions League match against Dinamo Zagreb the following month.
He made his first team debut in the Carling Cup in a Third Round match against West Bromwich Albion on October 24, 2006, coming on as a 24th minute substitute for Emmanuel Adebayor;[1] he went on to start Arsenal's League Cup Fourth Round match against Everton. He played against Liverpool in the quarter finals and was praised for his performance.
He is a member of the France U-17 squad for the 2006-07 season, having been capped 3 times so far this season. He is the only member of the squad employed by a club from outside France.
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